How does one increase private school enrollment from 60 to an added 90 students?  The school is infant to K, and before and after school.  The capacity is at a stand still for quite some time now.  The capacity should be 150.

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Jay’s Answer:

You can increase enrollment four basic ways:

1) Convince 90 students that are planning to attend other private schools to come to yours. This means you need to show why your school is better than others for the price you’re charging. “Better” could mean: better historic results for your students, better access to teachers/curriculum, better price, better location, etc.

2) Convince 90 students that are planning to attend public school to come to your private school. This will no doubt involve scholarships to cover the difference in cost between your school and public school. Once you cover the price, then you’ll still have to show the competitive edge your school offers.

3) Convince 90 students that aren’t in your area to come to your private school. This may involve busing them, setting up a remote campus, creating a virtual (i.e., online) school option, etc.

4) Convince another school to share students with you (1/2 day in one school, 1/2 in other, etc.).

Obviously, increasing your enrollment by 150% won’t happen overnight, and will require some understanding of why your enrollment is “stuck”, studying your competition (are they “stuck”?), and interviewing prospective families to better understand why/how/when they choose a school.